News Releases

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Judith Ingram

September 5, 2012

Julia Queen

Christian Hilland

FEC ISSUES ADVISORY OPINION

WASHINGTON –The Federal Election Commission has issued an advisory opinion concerning the use of mobile phone text messaging to process contributions for political committees. The Commission discussed the advisory opinion request at its open meeting on August 23, then held a tally vote on the draft advisory opinion yesterday.

Advisory Opinion 2012-30 (Revolution Messaging, LLC). The Commission concluded that the requestor’s proposal (1) to enable the processing of contributions by text message to a political committee in excess of $50 per billing cycle and $200 per calendar year or election cycle, and (2) to use shared premium short codes by multiple federal committees to process contributions by text message complies with the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, and Commission regulations.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces federal campaign finance laws. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Established in 1975, the FEC is composed of six Commissioners who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.